Abstract

The use of stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems is restricted mainly due to their high initial costs. This problem is alleviated by optimal sizing as it results in reliable and cost-effective systems. Using PV systems in Iraq can help resolve the power generation deficiency. This country enjoys an ample amount of solar radiation all throughout the year making it suitable for PV applications. Previous PV system sizing and feasibility studies, which have been conducted for Iraq, is rather inaccurate as they either incorporated simple equations or synthetized weather data along with simple mathematical models. In this paper, more rigorous system models, as well as measured meteorological data, were used to achieve more accurate sizing results, thus allowing a more realistic techno-economic feasibility analysis to be done. The optimal system, for an average load of 10 (KWh/day), consisted of 38 PV panels of 120 (Wp) each, a 16 110 (Ah) battery bank, one 1000 (W) inverter and four 100 (A) charge controllers in parallel. The unit cost of the generated electricity was estimated to be 0.1729 ($/KWh) which is still higher than the maximum tariff of the national grid (0.1 $/KWh).